“Davina and the Vagabonds combat heartache with sugar and sass.” – Downbeat   Davina Sowers and the Vagabonds have created a stir on the national music scene. Their high-energy live shows feature level-A musicianship, sharp-dressed professionalism and Sowers’ commanding stage presence. Also, their influences range from Fats Domino and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Aretha Franklin and Tom Waits. Moreover, the band is converting audiences one show at a time, from Vancouver to Miami and across Europe. Much like the music, the story spurns era, expectation and classification. The often unbelievable, sometimes harrowing, and wholly inspiring journey of Davina Sowers gave birth to her eponymous band in 2004. As the tale goes, she grew up in the economically depressed Allegheny town of Altoona, PA. She now describes the town as “awesome in the industrial era, but horrible for high school.” Then, she was adopted by her stepfather when he was in his 80s; he passed when she was just 13. Through him and his Edison phonograph, she first heard the music that would start her journey. For example, The Ink Spots, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and many others. “Great man. He was my angel and still is,” she says. On her own, she vividly recalls hours in front of the record player at home. There, she religiously spun Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Simon and Garfunkel records belonging to her folk singer mom. To this day, Davina still refers to music as “my first and eternal love.” Despite early dalliances with classical piano and guitar, she developed a heavy drug habit in high school. Further, this morphed into heroin dependency, left her homeless, sent her in and out of jail and brought on all manner of trouble. Kicking dope on the streets, she “got clean, started the band and worked ass off every day since.” Recommended for fans of Pokey LaFarge, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Hot Sardines and Squirrel Nut Zippers. 

“one of the greatest fingerpickers in the world.” – Chet Atkins   From swing to jazz to bottleneck blues to folk, Grammy-winning acoustic guitarist Pat Donohue plays it all. He does this with a flourish of artistry and melodic inspiration. Chet Atkins called Pat one of the greatest finger pickers in the world today; Leo Kottke called his playing “haunting.” Pat is certainly one of the most listened-to finger pickers in the world. He was the guitarist for the Guys All-Star Shoe Band of Minnesota Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion. There, Pat got to show off his savvy licks and distinctive original songs to millions of listeners each week. His decade-long association with Prairie Home Companion led to some unusual gigs. There was the after-show club date in Berlin when Wynton Marsalis showed up to sit in with Pat and the Prairie Home band. Or playing music on camera for the Prairie Home Companion movie with director Robert Altman and stars Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, John C. Reilly, Woody Harrelson and Tommy Lee Jones. Additionally, Pat plays nationwide and teaches at such popular music camps as Augusta Heritage Center and Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp. Pat’s musical tastes are eclectic. Though he considers himself foremost a folk guitarist, Pat’s influences are rooted in bluesmen Blind Blake, Robert Johnson, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters and Miles Davis. He manages to blend jazz and blues with folk, and the mix is seamless.  Honors include a 2005 Grammy for his participation on Pink Guitar, a compilation of Henry Mancini tunes on acoustic guitar. Also, several Minnesota Music Awards, and the title of 1983 National Finger Picking Guitar Champion. His original tunes have been recorded by Chet Atkins, Suzy Bogguss and Kenny Rogers.  Recommended for fans of Leo Kottke, Chet Atkins, Michael Johnson and A Prairie Home Companion.

“Herbie Hancock stands as our greatest living jazz artist.” – Washington Post   Herbie Hancock – Keys Terence Blanchard – Trumpet James Genus – Bass Lionel Loueke – Guitar & vocals Jaylen Petinaud – Drums Now in the seventh decade of his professional life, Herbie Hancock remains where he has always been: at the forefront of world culture, technology, business and music. Herbie Hancock has been an integral part of every popular music movement since the 1960s. As a member of the Miles Davis Quintet that pioneered a groundbreaking sound in jazz, he also developed new approaches on his own recordings, followed by his work in the 70s — with record-breaking albums such as Headhunters — that combined electric jazz with funk and rock in an innovative style that continues to influence contemporary music. Rockit and Future Shock marked Hancock’s foray into electronic dance sounds; during the same period, he also continued to work in an acoustic setting with V.S.O.P. Hancock received an Academy Award for his Round Midnight film score and 14 Grammy Awards, including Album Of The Year for River: The Joni Letters, and two 2011 Grammy Awards for the globally collaborative album The Imagine Project. Hancock serves as Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and as Institute Chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. In 2011 Hancock was named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, and in December of 2013, received a Kennedy Center Honor. His memoirs, Herbie Hancock: Possibilities, were published by Viking in 2014, and in February 2016 he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Hancock is currently in the studio at work on a new album. Recommended for Fans of Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis. 📸: Danny Clinch